The present invention generally relates to aircraft armament apparatus and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to a support plank-based aircraft armament mounting system incorporating thereon apparatus for supporting various aircraft cargo externally of the aircraft.
The external mounting on aircraft of weaponry such as machine guns, rocket launchers and the like, particularly in retrofit applications, has heretofore carried with it a variety of structural, operational and safety limitations and disadvantages. As but one example, the external mounting of machine guns on a helicopter has previously entailed securing an outwardly projecting metal support tube to the helicopter and then mounting the gun on the tube. While this seems to be a fairly straightforward approach, unavoidable limberness in the support tube often led to firing inaccuracies in the mounted gun due to wobbling of its firing axis relative to the aircraft.
To a great extent these problems have been eliminated by using the honeycombed metal support plank structure illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,138 to Sanderson et al. This support plank structure is transversely insertable through the cabin portion of the aircraft in a manner such that a longitudinally central portion of the support plank is disposed within the cabin area, and outer end portions of the plank project outwardly from opposite sides of the body of the aircraft. The central plank portion within the cabin area is removably anchored to the aircraft (which may be a helicopter or a fixed wing aircraft) and outer tip portions of the plank are vertically pivotable, along plank structure hinge lines, between fully extended positions and upwardly and inwardly folded transport or storage positions.
At the outer ends of these foldable tip portions are downwardly projecting outboard weaponry mounting structures which, using conventional bomb lug connector apparatus, are operative to removably support a pair of multiple tube rocket launchers at their bottom ends. Mounted on the undersides of the outwardly projecting plank end portions, inwardly of the foldable plank tips, are a pair of inboard support structures operative to removably support a pair of machine guns such as 7.62 mm "mini guns".
While the support plank-based aircraft armament system illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,138 has proven to be structurally superior to metal tube-type weaponry support systems, the central portion of the support plank, together with the ammunition magazines mounted on the top side thereof, occupies a considerable amount of space in the aircraft cabin area through which the plank extends. This, in turn substantially reduces the amount of cargo that may be carried within the cabin area. In view of this, it would be desirable to provide the aircraft with additional cargo carrying space to compensate for at least some of cabin space lost due to the presence of the central plank section, and its associated ammunition magazines, therein. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such additional cargo carrying space.